After winning four Cy Young Awards and 355 baseball games – mostly with the Braves and Cubs – Greg Maddux was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday. Two things were told to me about Maddux from former major league players that can be insightful for leaders. Steve Parris, a University of St.…
Developing a system of work may be something for leaders to think about. And keeping that system simple may be the key to execution. Earlier this month, the German soccer team beat Brazil in the semi-finals of the World Cup by the unprecedented score of 7 – 1. According to former German soccer players, their…
The above was the score of the German – Brazil match in the semi-finals of the 2014 World Cup. And, to make matters worse, in a country where soccer is a religion, the Brazilians suffered the humiliation at home. It wasn’t a loss; it was a total embarrassment in front of thousands of rabid fans…
Former Pittsburgh Steeler coach, Chuck Noll, passed away June 13, 2014. He certainly was a leader. When he accepted the Steeler head coaching position in 1969, they were the worst franchise in the NFL. In the previous 34 seasons, they had no championships and only a single playoff appearance. In his first year they won…
I was at the sixth game of the Bulls/Pistons series in Chicago’s United Center. I’ll never forget Michael Jordan’s performance at the game’s end. In the Bulls last eight possessions of the game, he scored on seven of them and had an assist on one. The intensity in the arena was incredible. The Pistons were…
John Wayne made the movie but my dear friend, Dr. Gene Curran, lived it. “The quiet man who spoke so loudly.” This was the refrain used by the homilist for Gene during his eulogy. Gene never spoke about all he did for others; he just did it and did it regularly. He was a local…
Perhaps the most relevant word to describe the Spurs winning the 2014 NBA championship is “humility.” John Wooden used to say, “Give all the credit away.” You are the leader. Everyone knows you are the leader. The endeavor was successful. Why do you need the credit? I think humility and credit go hand-in-hand. When the…
Ken Babcock wrote, “You can tell the value of a man by the way he treats someone who can do nothing for him.” This quote made me think of the San Antonio Spurs coach, Gregg Popovich. When the Nike Basketball Clinics would come to Chicago, our team at the University of St. Francis would demonstrate…
I heard a commercial recently where the company said, “Failure is an option.” As soon as I heard it, I knew I liked it. Michael Jordan used to say, “I succeed because I have failed.” Because he wasn’t afraid to fail, he wanted the ball in his hands at the end of the game. He…
“Our greatest power is the freedom to choose our response.” This is a quote from Viktor Frankl, author of Man’s Search for Meaning and a survivor of the Holocaust. When I think of the response of leaders to situations, I believe two totally opposite responses can be appropriate. A very successful businessman once told me…
